Commercial tenants get 5 days' notice of eviction

Question: My family owns a small shopping center in Glendale. Two years ago, we orally entered into a month-to-month lease with a hair salon for $1,500 per month.

Although we intended to have the tenant sign a written three-year lease agreement, we never did. Until last month, the tenant always paid the rent on time, but now the tenant is more than two weeks late. The tenant said yesterday that he will try to get us last month's rent by the end of this month. We would like to rent the space to another hair salon. What can we do?

Answer: You have two options.

After you give five days' written notice, you can either file an eviction action in court or you can lock out your tenant (Arizona Revised Statutes 33-361). If you choose to lock out your tenant, you must do so at a time when there will not be a breach of peace, generally after working hours when there is no one in the leased space.

Unlike residential tenants, commercial tenants such as a hair salon have little or no protection under Arizona statutes. The philosophy is that commercial tenants and landlords are "big boys," and can protect themselves by negotiating a written lease agreement.

Most written lease agreements will have a "cure" period; that is, requiring at least 10 days' written notice from a landlord before a landlord can lock out the tenant or file an eviction action in court for non-payment of rent.

by Christopher Combs Special for the Republic Jan. 5, 2011 12:00 AM





Commercial tenants get 5 days' notice of eviction